Survival of the Logical
by Janet12
Summary: During a routine beam-in to collect samples of plant life on the surface of Dyibos, Spock goes missing. As the Enterprise desperately tries to locate him, he's fighting savage cave people, traitorous townsfolk, and, it seems, every stray bullet between there and Gemaris V...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Jim, I'm a **writer** , not Paramount Pictures Corporation!

Chapter One

The landing party beamed to the planet's surface in an uninhabited area. They split up to cover ground faster. Mr Spock's mission was to gather scientific samples.

Captain Kirk sat in the chair, tapping his fingers, bored.

" _Spock to the Bridge."_

Kirk opened the comm. "Yes, Spock, what is it?"

" _I'm not within sight of the town yet, but I have just seen a few natives. There is no open hostility, but I do not think everything is peaceful."_ he reported. _"Several people are openly carrying some kind of long firearm. I hypothesize that there is some danger around, ferocious animals or -"_

Spock abruptly stopped.

"Mr Spock?" Kirk frowned. He strained his ears, then heard something thudding loudly.

A child's voice screamed.

" _Are you okay?"_ A voice was fading in, a woman coming closer to the still open communicator.

" _Am_ **I** _okay?"_ The very young girl was upset. _"What about him? You shot him! Why'd you do that?"_

" _I thought he was a mountainer. Is he still alive?"_

" _How should I know?"_

Kirk heard loud static as the girl picked up the communicator and ran her fingers over the speaker.

" _What's this?"_

" _Give it to me. It could be a weapon."_ The older girl ordered.

Then only static.

"Connection lost, sir." Uhura reported, turning her chair to look at the captain.

"Contact the rest of the away team. Beam them back _right now_!" Kirk ordered. He pressed a button on the arm of his chair. "Bones, meet me in the transporter room. Uhura, with me – Sulu, you have the conn."

He strode from the bridge.

 **Star Trek**

"Can you beam us to his location?"

Scotty scratched his head and peered at the screens. "I don't have a signal from his communicator – it isn't working, I guess, so not to where he _is,_ but I can beam you to where he was when he contacted you. Give me a moment." Scotty concentrated on his work, ignoring Kirk briefing Doctor McCoy and two redshirts on what had happened.

"All right. Ready, captain."

"Okay." Kirk nodded,"Let's go."

Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and the two security stepped up onto the platform.

"Energize."

A moment later, they glanced around the area. They were on the edge of a forest, a field in front of them.

"Fan out, look for Spock and those two girls." Kirk ordered.

Only a moment passed.

"Over here!" Uhura called, standing next to an area where the dry, brown leaves were tinted a Vulcan green.

"Keep looking." Kirk told the security crewmen.

McCoy knelt and looked at how much blood there was. "Definitely Spock's blood." he diagnosed, "But I don't think there's enough for it to be fatal."

"Could be fatal anyway if the people here are disturbed by green blood." Uhura pointed out. "Maybe we should go to the town. He could be in a hospital . . . or prison."

"Right." Kirk nodded. "We'll check it out."

 **Star Trek**

Spock opened his eyes and blinked, slightly dazed. His eyes met the ceiling of the log house.

 _I was shot by a native._ He remembered. _The Captain heard it, though. He'll be searching for me._

He sat up, swinging his feet over the edge of the small cot. Pain flared in his side, but he used a Vulcan mind technique to suppress it. He glanced around and saw he was in some kind of log cabin, with a limited amount of sunlight coming in through two glassless windows.

Across the room a young woman, 17 or 18 years old stood, holding a firearm.

"You woke up pretty quick." she commented. "I don't know who you are, greenblood, but you sure don't look like a mountainer from up close."

Spock blinked again, unsure how to respond.

The woman spoke again. "What's your name?"

"My name is Spock."

"That's not a name."

There was silence for a moment, as Spock realized it would be culturally unacceptable to correct a host who had bandaged one's injury.

"What sort of weapon did you attack me with?" Spock asked, curious.

She held up the firearm. "Shotgun." Spock began to stand up, but she cocked the gun. "Stay right where you are. I'm sorry I had to shoot you earlier, but I'll do it again if you give me an ounce of trouble."

"Why _did_ you shoot me earlier?" Spock obeyed her, sitting back down.

"You were _way_ too close to my sister, and you were on private property. I was perfectly justified. I figured you were a mountainer."

"Who are these mountainers you speak of?"

"The people in the hills."

"They live on the mountains just northeast of here?" Spock guessed.

"Of course not. They live in the caves. You must know that. Everyone's heard of mountainers."

"I'm new to these parts. A traveler."

"There aren't any travelers here. No one gets here. Fess up. Where you from?"

"Far south."

"That's ridiculous."

"Lydia!" the door was slammed open by a young girl, less than ten years old. "Mountainers! They're coming 'cross the field!"

"Get the shutters!" Lydia ordered her little sister. "Sprok – Skorp – Greenblood, get up. You don't get a gun, so I hope you can fight."


	2. Chapter 2

Do I have to put a disclaimer on every chapter? Why do I have to do so? Have I made enough money to buy Star Trek between chapter one and chapter two? Granted, it's been two years, I could've made quite a bit of money, but no. I have not. Consider this chapter disclaimed.

Chapter 2

Spock got to his feet, as the little girl pulled the heavy wooden shutters closed and tied them with a rope. Lydia stepped out the door and leveled her shotgun. She waited a moment, then pulled the trigger.

She shot several times, but Spock, behind her, couldn't see who she was shooting at.

She pushed the door shut. "They've scattered – gone around the side." She lifted a sturdy wooden bar into it's place, holding the door shut.

Spock suddenly heard something, quiet footsteps outside one window. He turned, listening.

Lydia glanced at him. "What?" she whispered, but he raised a finger to his lips for silence.

Suddenly a rock crashed into the shutters. They didn't break or splinter, but the rope snapped. A mountainer – a man, his skin gray and powdery – yanked the shutters open and jumped through the window into the dimly lit room.

Lydia swung her shotgun up to her shoulder and shot him through the head.

Another mountainer leaped in, but Lydia was reloading. Spock found himself face to face with a second incredibly pale humanoid with black stripes painted on his skin with a dye. The mountainer tried to stab him with some sort of stone knife, but he sidestepped and nerve pinched him, sending him straight to the ground.

Another mountainer was just outside, but as Spock stepped toward him, Lydia's gun came back into play. She shot him in the shoulder, and he retreated.

Spock froze, waiting, but it seemed that the mountainers had had enough. Going closer to the window, he saw several of them fleeing back into the forest.

Lydia pulled the door open and checked outside, holding her gun at the ready.

"How did you kill him?" the little girl, who had been standing in the corner, stepped forward, awed.

"I didn't kill him. I used a technique known as the 'Nerve Pinch'. He's unconscious."

"You left him alive?" the girl shrieked, moving away from the mountainer.

"There was no need to kill him." Spock pointed out.

"I'm not sure I agree with you." Lydia grabbed the dead mountainer and started to drag him outside. Spock moved to help her, but she shook her head. "Nah, you're still injured. I can take care of this."

"What did they want?" Spock asked the little girl, who frowned.

"It's the famine." she said, as if stating the obvious. "They wanted our food. And that would be fine – we might sell, or even share, but they're all set on having it over our dead bodies."

"That is illogical." Spock frowned.

"I don't think they care."

Lydia came back and dragged the unconscious mountainer away.

"I'm Gracie, by the way." Gracie grinned. "Who're you?"

"I am Spock."

"Nice to meet you, Spock." Gracie paused. "How come you have green blood?"

"Where I come from some people have green blood." Spock said, carefully, not wanting to violate the prime directive.

"So where are you trying to get to?" she asked,

"I've lost the group of people I'm traveling with, and I know they're searching for me. I'll need to rejoin them."

"Then you should go to the town – that's where they'll look." Gracie pointed out.

 _Logical. The Captain will don appropriate disguise and find out if I'm in a hospital._ Spock decided. "Can you tell me which way the town is from here?"

"She'll do better than that. She'll take you." Lydia announced, coming to stand in the doorway.

"Oh, I can?" Gracie said, excited.

"I'm sure Mr Sk – I'm sure Greenblood can protect you from mountainers, and you can make sure his wound doesn't get worse. I'll come to Arkney and pick you up in a while." Lydia decided.

"Okay, great! Come on, Spock."

This particular native was excited to meet a foreigner. Strangely, she was unconcerned about drastic differences between them like green blood, pointed ears and slanted eyebrows. She was more interested in how he spoke and his entertaining ignorance of the area. She pressed none of the points that he was worried she would, and they had a pleasant journey to the road.

"This leads to Arkney. We'll have to keep a lookout for mountainers. Sometimes they come this far."

"Do they come into town?" Spock asked.

"They used to go there on raids and steal food, but since we got the new sheriff, they stay away." Gracie replied. "Lydia always used to want to be the sheriff – but it's always a man, and we've already got a one that everybody likes. She's given up on it, but I haven't. She'll be sheriff someday. She'll be the best sheriff there ever was. She'll be better than the one they have now."

"The current sheriff is very good at his occupation, then?"

"Oh, yeah. He came all the way from Staton _alone._ You hear that? He survived _alone_."

"That is uncommon?"

"You know how far Staton is? No one has _ever_ made it that far alone. Nowadays even groups of thirty or forty people disappear. But the sheriff made it, so everyone figured he's tough, which he is, obviously, cause since he's come, the mountainers haven't robbed the town once."

Spock considered that for a moment. "Staton is the closest town?"

"Staton's not a town, silly, it's a city. There's a town only a couple of miles away, Pgaro. People don't disappear coming from there, but when they leave they don't usually return."

"How do these people 'disappear'?" Spock inquired.

"If we knew, we'd have stopped it by now."

"Does everyone 'disappear'?"

"Lydia says that Father won't, but he hasn't come back yet, so he probably has." Gracie shrugged, then brightened. "See, there's the town!"

 **Star Trek**

They walked up the empty street. "If your group has come looking for you, they'll have tried to sheriff's office." Gracie told him. "Let's see if they have."

"Gracie!" They turned. An elderly lady was walking toward them. "I haven't seen you in months, Gracie. You've grown so much!"

"Oh, I missed you, Susanne." Gracie hugged her.

"And your friend?" Susanne turned to Spock.

"I am Spock." he introduced himself.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Spock." Susanne smiled, then turned back to Gracie. "I'm so glad you came to town today!"

"Why today?" Gracie didn't miss a thing.

"I think I'm going to leave for Pgaro first thing in the morning. When it's still dark."

"What? Why?" Gracie was dismayed.

"I have reasons." Susanne paused. "It's been planned for days."

"You mustn't leave!" Gracie protested. "You can't! That would be terrible!" Gracie turned to Spock. "You go and speak with the sheriff, I'm making sure Susanne doesn't do anything stupid."

"What're you speaking to the sheriff for?" Susanne asked.

"There will be a group of my comrades inquiring for me. I need to find if they are here yet."

"Five people in strange clothes?" Susanne queried. "They came and I think the sheriff told them about that surgeon in Pgaro that works on people who get shot. I'm pretty sure they left straightaway. You'll have to check with the sheriff."

Spock nodded.

"Now, Susanne, you can't leave -"

"I need to go eventually – I'm worried though... leaving you and Lydia all alone out there. Maybe I'll stay for a while longer..."

Spock headed toward the sheriff's office. The door was ajar, so he stepped inside.

"Can I help you?" A tall, strong man looked up.

"Are you the sheriff?" Spock asked.

"Yes."

"I was traveling with a group when I was separated from them. I theorize they would come here to find information about me and -"

"No, there hasn't been anyone here all day." the sheriff smiled, sympathetically.

Spock stopped. "No one?"

"Sorry."

"It is illogical to apologize for a situation not of your own making. Thank you for your time."

"Since they're not here, they might be in Pgaro, the next – well, the only other town."

"I have reliable information stating it is unsafe to travel between this town and Pgaro."

"I can get you a group to travel with." the sheriff assured him. "Susanne, Thomas, Jeremy – several people are moving out, going to Pgaro tomorrow morning."

"I spoke to Susanne outside." Spock paused.

"Yes?"

"She said she may not go to Pgaro."

"Oh. That's fine. There are others going."

"Thank you. I may accompany them." Spock moved out the door and across the street, where Gracie ran up to him. "So what did he say about your group?"

"He said they have not come here." Spock said, his tone serious.

"But Susanne said they spoke to him!" Gracie whispered, glancing over to the old lady, who was walking slowly into the sheriff's office.

He lowered his voice. "This means one or the other is lying."

Gracie did the same, in a conspiratorial manner. "Susanne wouldn't lie!" She whispered emphatically.

"You must not decide the guilty party by emotion, but by fact. By logic." Spock rebuked her.

"I'm not deciding _anything_ by emotion. I know Susanne. She doesn't lie. She knows it's wrong." Gracie shot back "I'm deciding from experience. From observation."

"Almost anyone will lie, given certain circumstances."

She snorted. "Well, I'm going to circumstance those two into telling the truth."

"Gracie, I don't think that is the optimal -"

Gracie took off across the street. "Don't run!" she called back over her shoulder. "You'll strain the injury." She slipped in the door, letting it bang shut behind her.

Spock stared after her for a moment, then started across the street.

A shriek sounded from the building – Spock prioritized Gracie's life over his health and logically broke into a sprint – and made it to the porch by the time Gracie burst out, hysterical.

Spock grabbed her shoulders. "Gracie, what's wrong?"

"Oh, horrible!" Gracie was sobbing too hard to explain.

Spock reached for his phaser, only to realize he had none.

"Stay here." He pushed in the door.

"Spock?" he heard, hiccuped through her tears.

"Stay outside, Gracie." he went through the door into the back of the sheriff's office.

Susanne sat in a chair, motionless.

"Susanne?" Spock approached her, but she didn't move. She was dead. Her neck was marked with fast-forming bruises. Strangulation.

 _Only the sheriff was inside with her. He was the only one I saw with opportunity and enough hand strength to kill her._

"Spock!" Gracie screamed.

 _Where is he now?_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Spock raced outside and stopped dead at the sound of a firearm being cocked.

The sheriff stood a few paces away, gripping Gracie's forearm tightly.

"Stand still – I'll make it quick." he pointed his revolver at Spock.

Spock frowned, then raised an eyebrow. "I do not comprehend your motive for murdering either Susanne or myself." He glanced at Gracie, who's eyes were wide with fear.

"Let Gracie go." Spock demanded, taking a step forward.

Wonder crossed the sheriff's face, followed by stubbornness. "I don't think that should be your first priority." He aimed and pulled the trigger just as Gracie stomped on his foot.

Pain blossomed just above Spock's ankle and his knees nearly gave way, but he pushed it away with a Vulcan mind technique.

Gracie stomped again and the sheriff shoved her away, pointing his gun at her back.

"No!" Spock threw himself forward, a flicker of human fear shooting across his face.

The sheriff shot Gracie twice in the back, then swung his gun toward Spock, but the third report wasn't from his gun.

The sheriff jerked and collapsed to the ground next to Gracie.

Lydia stood a long way down the street and took her shotgun down from her shoulder. She slung it over her shoulder and started sprinting toward them.

Spock hurried to Gracie, who was trying to sit up. "Am I okay? He shot me – oh, it hurts!" She lay back again.

Spock knelt next to her. "We'll get a doctor to check your wound, but I am going to knock you out like the mountainer earlier today. You may be unconscious for some time – what do you want me to tell your sister?"

Gracie smiled, unaware of the blood spreading all over her dress. "Tell Lydia that the sheriff's gone bad – she has – a chance." her face twisted in pain.

"I'll convey the message." Spock nodded assuringly. "Do not be concerned – the nerve pinch will not be painful."

"Okay." Gracie coughed. "See ya."

He nerve pinched her.

Lydia slid to her knees next to her sister, and seconds later a man – a doctor – was on her other side. Spock got up and stepped away to give them room.

A moment later, Gracie died.

 **Star Trek**

Lydia didn't cry. She stood up and turned to Spock. "Greenblood, talk. What happened? Why'd he shoot Gracie? Why'd he shoot you?"

"I think I understand why." Spock said, slowly. "It's a famine here – nothing grows – how can the mountainers survive without trading with you? They've been the ones attacking travelers. On the journey here, the sheriff _was_ attacked, but he made a deal to inform them whenever travelers would be leaving the town, allowing them to be cannibalized."

Lydia used the back of her hand to brush across her eyes, trying to ignore the men behind her taking Gracie's body away. "What? You're saying everyone who has left here since the sheriff came was _eaten_ by mountainers? Why would he shoot you because of that?"

Spock glanced around, and noticed several townsmen silently listening.

"He tried to shoot me – and _did_ shoot Gracie because we both saw the body of Susanne. He murdered her just a few minutes ago. He murdered her because she had just decided she wasn't going to leave town – and he needed people to leave town so he could hold up his deal with the mountainers. He would have shipped her out in a box with the live people, and let them take and eat her also."

"Ugh." Lydia said, disgusted. She didn't speak for several moments. "My father _is_ dead, then."

Spock paused. "The mountainers don't have any food conservation procedures obtainable -"

"Talk plain." Lydia looked him in the eye. "What are you saying?"

"The mountainers don't have – an icebox." Spock guessed their meat storage type. "If they killed everyone immediately, they'd rot. Since it's a famine, they would ration their food. There may be some people still alive."

"My father was with the group that left only two weeks ago – he's still down there!" Lydia's eyes widened, then she reloaded her shotgun. She turned to look at the townspeople listening. She raised her voice. "I'm going to the caves – I'm going after those people. Anyone who wants to come with me I won't stop."

"Do you have a plan, Miss?" a man spoke from the group listening.

"I know where the entrance to the tunnels are, and I've got a shotgun. I have a chance, and I'm going to get my father back, even if I'm going alone."

"I'll come with you." Spock decided.

"You're hurt – you'll be no help." Lydia dismissed him.

"The wound isn't serious. I failed to protect your sister, but I plan to help rescue your father."

"All right." Lydia looked around at the townsmen. "Anyone with me?"

"I'll come – something needs to be done about those mountainers whether they have folks prisoner or not."

"And I."

"I'll come."

Several more nodded.

"Go home, get your guns." Lydia told them. "We're going up onto the hill, where we look down on the entrance. We'll make a half-circle and surround them."

 **Star Trek**

A half hour later the townspeople had moved as planned. Spock crouched behind a rock near Lydia.

"Your plan, Lydia." he spoke softly. "How do we proceed from this position?"

"Attack and kill them if they try to kill us." Lydia said, coldly.

"Killing them won't help anyone – especially not the people they've eaten. We need to stop the cannibalism. Then the mountainers will _have_ to come to the town and trade for food."

"How will that help us?" Lydia shot back.

"Gems, plants, fish found under the mountain. If forced to barter with your town, they'd become more civilized – more advanced." Spock pointed out. "It could be better if they aren't killed."

"So what plan of attack do _you_ suggest?" Lydia asked, angry.

"Shoot to frighten, until the mountainers retreat into the caves, then we follow, searching for any prisoners."

"How are we supposed to go into their home without killing any of them?"

"Shoot to frighten." Spock repeated. "They know firearms kill. They do not require a demonstration."

Lydia let out a breath loudly, obviously calming from a rational and justified anger.

"We'll try it your way." she conceded. "But if _one_ _person_ gets hurt by arrow or rock or _splinter_ – we're going back to my plan." She whispered instructions to a man near her, and he left to spread the orders.

It took a few minutes for them to get ready. Spock checked the bandages on both of his injuries. They were healing, but much slower than if he'd been able to use a healing trance.

"You okay, Greenblood?" Lydia's voice snapped him back to the task at hand.

"Better than expected." Spock replied. "Are they ready to attack?"

"Yeah." Lydia checked her gun. "Let's go. They'll follow."

She stood and slowly headed for the cave entrance. A mountainer stepped out, holding a crude spear in one hand. Lydia fired only a few feet from him, and he retreated into the caves.

All of the townspeople headed to the cave entrance, but it split off into multiple tunnels.

"You two, take the leftmost tunnel. You three, take this one. All of you, take this one. Greenblood and I will take the last one. Remember, don't fire to kill unless one of you is injured." Lydia told them. "Move out."

Lydia moved first, holding her shotgun up to aim in front of her. They moved several hundred feet into the darkness without incident, but Spock saw the side tunnel – too late.

The mountainer gave a savage scream. He shoved the shotgun from Lydia's grasp.

Spock reached for the man's neck, but suddenly large hands were wrapped around his neck, strangling him.


End file.
